Word.ws English Dictionary

cowrie

/ˈkaʊ.ɹi/

cowrie noun: a small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.

cowrie: a small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell
Image: Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cowrie (plural cowries)

  1. A small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
    Synonyms:
    money cowrie, shell money, wampum
  2. (broadly, dated) Any gastropod of the genus Cypraea; its shell.
  3. (broadly) Any gastropod of the family Cypraeidae; its shell.

cowrie meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

cowrie in Hindi

Cypraea moneta
कौड़ी kauṛī
any member of the genus Cypraea
कौड़ी kauṛī

cowrie in Tamil

any member of the genus Cypraea
சோகி cōki

cowrie in Bengali

any member of the genus Cypraea
কড়ি koṛi

cowrie in Malayalam

Cypraea moneta
കവടി kavaṭi
any member of the genus Cypraea
കവടി kavaṭi
More languagesFewer languages
cowrie in Kannada
ಕವಡೆ kavaḍe
cowrie in Punjabi
ਕੌਡੀ kauḍī
cowrie in Odia
କଉଡ଼ି kauṛi
cowrie in Sanskrit
कपर्द kaparda, वट vaṭa
cowrie in Nepali
कौडी kauḍī
cowrie in Arabic
ودع

Synonyms of cowrie

Forms of cowrie

pluralcowries
alternative formcowry
alternative formkauri

Origin of cowrie

Mid-17th century, borrowed from Hindi कौड़ी (kauṛī).

Words formed from cowrie

  • bean cowrie
  • kernel cowrie
  • measled cowrie
  • money cowrie
  • nucleus cowrie
  • panther cowrie
  • ring cowrie
  • tiger cowrie
  • turtle cowrie
  • wrinkled cowrie

Phrases with cowrie

Words that rhyme with cowrie

Questions about cowrie

What does cowrie mean?
Cowrie means a small gastropod (Monetaria moneta, syn. Cypraea moneta) common in the Indian Ocean; its shell.
What is cowrie in Hindi?
Cowrie in Hindi is कौड़ी (kauṛī). See Cowrie meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is cowrie?
Cowrie is a noun.
How do you pronounce cowrie?
Cowrie is pronounced /ˈkaʊ.ɹi/.
What is the plural of cowrie?
The plural of cowrie is cowries.

Words near cowrie in the dictionary

  1. cowquake
  2. cowquakes
  3. Cowra
  4. cowrey
  5. cowreys
  6. cowrie
  7. Cowrie Point
  8. cowries
  9. cowrite
  10. cowriter
  11. cowriters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cowrie (page history and authors); कपर्द (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cowry.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-cowrie.wav.

Cite this entry: “cowrie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cowrie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.